Google rivals ask FTC to monitor search code

Google should allow the government to monitor its secret sauce — its search code — and stop artificially favoring its own results when people search for flights, products, restaurant reviews and more, a coalition of major competitors has told the FTC.

FairSearch.org, which represents Expedia, Trip Advisor, Kayak, Nokia, Microsoft and several other tech companies, revealed its list of “remedies” for Google’s alleged anti-competitive behavior to POLITICO this week as the FTC considers filing antitrust charges or negotiating a settlement with the company by year’s end.

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“Google’s own products should be subject to the same algorithm as other products,” said Tom Barnett, counsel for FairSearch member Expedia, who formerly headed the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division. “Given Google’s past conduct, Google should not be able to hard-code Google Finance, Google Shopping, Google Travel and its other products as top search results.”

The FTC has been probing Google for more than 18 months amid a wide array of allegations that the Mountain View, Calif., company engages in anti-competitive practices.

The FTC declined comment on the probe or FairSearch’s recommendations.

“We continue to work cooperatively with the Federal Trade Commission and are happy to answer any questions they may have,” Google spokesman Adam Kovacevich said.

FairSearch members have discussed with FTC staff and officials several ideas for how Google ought to alter its behavior — and possibly its structure — to address concerns over alleged abuse of monopoly power in search and search advertising. The group has also requested Google be barred from entering into exclusive contracts in search advertising and prohibited from “scraping” content, such as restaurant reviews, from other sites and using it in Google products.

One key component to enforce the conditions would be the appointment by the FTC of a “technical monitor,” similar to the court-appointed technical committee that monitored Microsoft’s Windows operating system code in an antitrust case a decade ago. The monitor for Google, FairSearch suggested, would not regulate but report to the FTC to ensure the company adheres to fair rankings and does not mathematically weight the results in favor of its products — or against rivals.

“Appointing a monitor who has access to Google’s algorithm on a confidential basis and who reports back to the agency can deter Google from improperly manipulating its algorithm,” Barnett said. “For example, Google would be less likely to include a line that provides ‘If competitor of Google minus 20 on ranking.’”

Google said such a type of monitoring would be tantamount to government regulation of search engine results, which the company said consumers overwhelming oppose, according to a National Taxpayers Union survey.

One of FairSearch members’ top demands is that Google submit its own ancillary services — specialized websites for searching air travel, shopping, local reviews and other specialty services — to the same ranking system as other, competing sites.